Echo
Echo (エコー, Ekõ) was the most recent incarnation of Duldum created within Noise's subconscious by her own Chain, Duldee. Echo's purpose was to act as a stabilizer of sorts that could protect Noise's mind and heart from shattering from the strain of her Contract - as Noise was neither human nor a true Baskerville but rather an anomaly. Since she had many predecessors, Echo was able to develop her own individuality from the shards of Noise's heart which Echo's predecessors had taken into themselves in order to preserve. After 16 years had passed, Echo still remained void of will and acted only to fulfill her purpose. However, after having encountered Oz during her mission to track down Grim's Contractor, Oz's sympathy and care toward Echo helped provoke change within her that started a development of an individual will of her own. Since then, Echo had acted as her own person and made decisions of her own based on what she believed was right. Unfortunately, with Duldee's influence over Noise having come full circle, Echo was easily pushed aside so that Noise could pursue what she believed she desired most. Noise was met with failure, prompting further cracking of her heart and encouraging Duldee to take action as she attempted to force Noise into killing Vincent Nightray - who had a strong hold over Noise - in a last ditch attempt to preserve Noise's heart. Echo, knowing that Vincent's death would destroy Noise rather than just ceasing his hold over her, took immediate action and fought for Noise's heart against Duldee. Though Echo managed to kill Duldee and return the memories Noise had lost, the repercussions left Noise on the brink of death. With both her creator and her Contractor dying, Echo's existence was nearing its end. Fortunately, the newly restored Noise allowed Echo to say her goodbyes to her friends before Noise's body crumbled completely and the two left the world of the living together. Description Appearance Echo's appearance mirrored that of Noise's. As such, Echo was shown to have had a more pale complexion than other characters, as well as white hair that is mostly cut at jaw-length, with segments of her hair being purposefully cut longer; such as the side strands (reaching down to Echo's shoulders) and bangs (falling in light waves over the top half of her face). Echo also had pale gray eyes, however, unlike Noise, when Echo was in possession of the body the eyes appeared empty and almost soulless. Echo wore a short blue dress with a white collar and front, bell-shaped sleeves that longer in length and end with a ruffled frill-like fabric, eight blue buttons and silver outlining throughout the blue fabric of the dress. In actuality, Echo's dress was not stitched together with the sleeves, instead the two are attached via silver threads wrapped around silver buttons that had been inlaid into the blue fabric of the dress and sleeves. Underneath, Echo had been shown to wear a thin dress-shirt with a ruffled design along the center at the front. As well, Echo wore a short black sailor's tie that had a thin white 'V' towards its base, that was held in place with a blue button that matched those on the front of Echo's dress. Finally, Echo wore knee-length white boots that had the fabric at the top folded and held in place using blue buttons (matching those on Echo's dress) decorated with pale blue bows. Personality To begin with, Echo's overall persona seemed emotionless - as she was only capable of accepting her orders for exactly what they were, never wavering, and only ever speaking in a basic honorable monotone vocal range. This was because Echo had been an incarnation of Duldum without much interaction that exposed her to her own individuality, leaving Echo as nothing more than an empty doll meant to carry out her purpose as Duldee had intended. As such, Echo also kept all her inner thoughts to herself, as she felt that they had no place within her line of work as valet to Vincent and disciple of Duldee. What made Echo different from her predecessors was how long she'd existed without being disposed of by Duldee, allowing Echo to not only absorb the fragments of Noise's heart that her predecessors had passed down to her, but also new fragments lost by Noise over time - thus making Echo the Duldum that possessed the most of Noise's heart within her. This allowed Echo to have her own will, though she did not act upon it until after meeting Oz. Oz treated Echo as a person rather than just an empty doll, which made Echo reassess her priorities and expand on her own identity. Though Echo's loyalty was still absolute, she was suddenly able to make her own decisions based on what she believed was right, such as saving the antidote Sharon Rainsworth needed after Vincent had poisoned them both and attempted to destroy it, spending time with Oz during the St. Bridget's Day Festival and defying Vincent by revealing to Gilbert Nightray and Elliot Nightray that Xerxes Break had been fighting against Fang and Lily alone during Isla Yura's Feast. The more that Oz treated her as a person, the deeper the connection between him and Echo seemed to get. As a result, it seemed as though Echo may have developed romantic feelings toward Oz, which flourished more and more as the series progressed. In the end however, such potential went unnoticed, however Echo's death hit Oz harder than most - encouraging him to don Noise's Baskerville cloak and pursue Oswald with a greater sense of purpose Unfortunately, as Noise had adopted a more aggressive persona based on observation of both Vincent and Duldee, she was mostly antagonistic toward Echo, making Echo more vulnerable, sensitive and scared when around Noise. Even so, because she had not forgotten her true purpose of protective Noise's heart - Echo acted against Duldee at the pinnacle of Noise's destruction in order to save Noise's heart for what it began as rather than allowing Duldee to destroy it in order to break Vincent's hold over Noise. Though Echo could see that Duldee only wanted to save her Contractor in a more misguided way, she still couldn't allow such a thing to pass, thereby sacrificing herself so that she could restore Noise's heart before both of them died - showing that Echo's individual development of self had come full circle and allowing her to die peacefully alongside the true Noise. In battle, Echo's preferred weapon was twin blue-bladed short swords, which she'd kept in the sleeves of her dress at all time in case she ever needed to use them. Curiously enough, Echo also drew a projection of her short swords within Noise's subconscious while fighting Duldee. Additionally, while Noise appeared to be right-handed, Echo herself appeared to be ambidextrous, wielding both short swords equally skillfully with both hands. Abilities and Powers *'Possession': As a split personality created by Duldee, Echo had the ability to take the place of Noise as the active personality. However, due to Noise's adopted aggression, Echo tended to only take on her role as the active personality whenever Noise was ordered by Vincent to recede into her subconsciousness. *'Maintenance of Heart:' Like her predecessors, Echo was capable of picking up the broken pieces of Noise's heart and absorbing them in order to keep them safe until the day that Noise could reclaim them herself - as was her duty as Duldum. *'Hand-To-Hand Combat:' Echo had been a skilled combatant, often making use of a unique acrobatic technique whilst sparring against opponents with her twin blue-bladed short swords. However, in battle Echo tended to focus moreso on the exact orders she'd been given, and would even on occasion be compelled to take action in certain situations without consciously being aware of why she'd done so. *'Hyper Endurance:' All Baskervilles possess enhanced speed, strength and endurance as an effect of being chosen to act as messengers of the Abyss. Thus, due to her connection with Noise, Echo possessed such qualities as well - allowing her to carry on in battle without tiring and endure against extreme conditions that regular humans would have difficult coping against. *'Healing:' As a Baskerville, Noise was able to heal from her wounds at a rapid pace - even moreso than her older colleagues because of her young age. As such, Echo could also heal her wounds - only when serious wounds were inflicted on either personality, Vincent would have them switch so that either Echo or Noise could heal fully without interruption while their counterpart continued to do his bidding. Quotes *''"Echo is a servant of the Nightray house."'' *''"It is just 'Echo'." (to Oz, whenever he calls her Echo-chan) *"Echo needs to record everything, that is seen by these eyes."'' *''"Even if I'm to be tortured, to be mistreated, to be humiliated, Echo doesn't have the right to fight against it."'' *(to Oz) "Today........ I'm really, very, grateful towards you..." *(to Alice) "Oz,Oz,Oz. Can't you think of anything else to say? You sound just like Gilbert Nightray!" *(to Oz) "Oz-sama... are you all right? - I knew it. You're not all right! I know you're not!" *(to Oz) "That's not true. You and Jack are not the same person. Well that's... I don't know..." *''"Why are you saying such terrible things? Why are you... of all people... saying.. something... like that? (to Oz)'' Appearances Trivia *Echo's zodiac sign was Gemini. *Echo referred to herself in third-person. *Most of the Baskervilles referred to Echo as "Zwei", meaning "Two", because of her joint existence with Noise. *The inspiration for Echo (namely her constant fight for dominance with Noise) came from either Tweedle Dee or Tweedle Dum from Lewis Carroll's Through The Looking Glass And What Alice Found There. *Echo had a noticeable resemblance to Les from Jun Mochizuki's "Crimson Shell". Navigation Category:Nightray Family Category:Characters Category:Female Category:Baskervilles Category:Servants Category:Character Subpages Category:Chains Category:Deceased